“Ronaldo is unhappy with his own dip in form, while the leak of Gareth Bale’s transfer fee, which was over €100 million, annoyed the Portugal international even further. Perez, meanwhile, is unhappy with Ronaldo remaining coy over his long-term future at Madrid, but is publicly backing the forward so that his value does not decrease,” it stated.

Florentino Perez, the president of Real Madrid, has not given up his attempts to sign Neymar, Sport reports.

According to the Spanish source, the president’s tenacity cannot be underestimated, and will also use Los Blancos’ considerable wealth to continue to push for a move.

The 68-year-old lost the transfer battle for Neymar to Barcelona. Perez says that he has accepted that outcome as personal failure and wishes to make amends by plotting a Luis Figo-style swoop for the attacker.

The rumours say that Madrid sees the 23-year-old as the long-term replacement for Cristiano Ronaldo.

However, Jordi Mestre, the Barcelona’s vice-president, said: “I see absolutely no reason why Neymar would want to leave Barcelona”.

“He is proving to be a great player, a world-class attacker. We are very happy with his performances. I don’t know whether Florentino Perez watched his game against Athletic, but it is clear that people who like football like a lot of our players. For me, Neymar seems very happy here. He has won titles, has made the Ballon d’Or podium, he looks happy to me and I cannot see why he would want to move,” he explained.